Slappy, Beware! is a hardcover special edition book that, despite not being branded as such, is adjacent to the Goosebumps SlappyWorld book series.[1] It is the sixteenth book in the Living Dummy saga and the second book to feature Slappy as a protagonist since Slappy's Nightmare. It was released in 2022 as a tie-in for the thirtieth anniversary of the Goosebumps franchise. It is also the second hardcover special edition book after Goosebumps Wanted: The Haunted Mask in 2012 and the first special edition book since The Haunter in 2016.
The story is written in the third person and structured in four acts, followed by an epilogue. A new origin is explored for Slappy which R.L. Stine calls the "true one," where in the 1800s an evil sorcerer named Ephraim Darkwell creates Slappy to continue his evil after he inevitably perishes. The book also features "Slappy's Most Iconic Insults," R.L. Stine interviewing Slappy, and four full-page Slappy illustrations by Brandon Dorman, making it the first Goosebumps book to feature images alongside the story. The illustrations are monochrome in the physical release.
The cover, which appears to be a homage to the original cover art for Night of the Living Dummy, depicts Slappy the Dummy staring at the reader with an evil grin and his eyes glowing bright red. On the physical edition, the word "HA" can be seen scrawled all over the cover when exposed to light. The title and back tagline are a play on the Goosebumps franchise slogan "Reader beware—you're in for a scare!"
Blurb[]
YOU'RE IN FOR A SCARE!
The untold, true story of the world's most villainous dummy! In the Goosebumps universe, there is no villain more feared than Slappy! Endowed by his magician creator with devious powers, Slappy has only one mission in his tiny, deranged mind: do evil every day, all day. But he may have met his match in the Carlton family. Each of Slappy's attempts to ruin their lives ends in disaster, and the dummy starts to panic.
Will Slappy's scariest day yet bring an end to his reign of terror?
Plot[]
Part One[]
Ephraim Darkwell is a sorcerer and doll maker in a tiny village in Europe who can bring his puppets to life. He vowed to never use his powers for evil, but the other villager believe he is dangerous. One day, the constable warns him that an angry mob is coming to burn him. Darkwell is upset because he is about to finish his masterpiece. His nephew Isaac comes in and says he was harassed for sticking up for his uncle. He sends Issaac to sleep and brings his latest puppet to life with some magic words.
The puppet comes to life, and Darkwell tells him he is evil. Just in case the villagers get him, he wants the dummy to carry out his evil as revenge. When the magic words are spoken, the dummy will come to life and do evil, such as making people his servants and using powers that were given to him. However, he must do evil every day or he will fall asleep forever. He names the dummy Slappy.
The villagers storm in and try to take Issaac away from Darkwell. He allows this but reveals that Isaac is actually one of his creations, being just a dummy. They chase Darkwell out of his house and give chase. Slappy uses his powers to freeze the villagers so he and Darkwell can escape. The two declare they will make evil history.
Part Two[]
Reggie Foreman is about go on stage for the school Holiday Talent Show with a ventriloquist act. It goes well and Reggie is happy to be the center of attention. His sister Poppy is jealous of how this and acts grumpy for the rest of the day. She was the first to get into dummies and is upset Reggie is outclassing her. She asks the parents to get her a dummy of her own. On Christmas morning, Poppy gets a dummy that is part of a line called Mister Wood. He looks different from the others, but they brush it off.
They visit their Aunt Halley, where Mister Wood starts insulting her. Poppy is blamed but both she and Reggie swear they aren't saying these things. At home, Reggie calls his friend Diego who suggests making Poppy think the dummy is alive to get her back. After declining the idea, he changes his mind and goes through with it. He places the dummy elsewhere but the next morning, he finds it in the place he keeps his own dummy.
Both of the kids blame the other for this. Reggie talks to Diego who suggests keeping up with the plan to make Poppy think the dummy is alive. Reggie can sneak into the house, make a mess, put Mister Wood on top of it and convince the others he was just over at Diego's place. He agrees to the idea, but it's ruined by Mom being at home, telling him it's time to go to his cousin Jake's birthday party. They go to find one of his shirts, only to discover it has been torn up and Mister Wood is sitting there.
Poppy pleads innocence but she is blamed. That night, Poppy visits Reggie's room and tries to have an honest discussion with him. She swears she isn't doing this and doesn't even blame Reggie anymore as she thinks something is up with Mister Wood. She has him help check on the dummy, only to discover it is missing. Reggie goes to his room and sees his dummy Junior has been decapitated, with Mister Wood sitting there holding his eyeballs.
This ends up being the last straw for the parents, who take Mister Wood back to the store. When Mr. Foreman gives it the clerk at the toy store, he reveals this isn't a Mister Wood and is a different dummy. The dummy suddenly springs to life and reveals that he is Slappy. He uses his powers to bring the other Mister Wood's to life and has them attack the men. Slappy then walks away, saying he hopes they enjoy their holidays.
Part Three[]
Bryce Carlton and his father Duke are outdoorsy types who get along very well but hate being cooped up. In contrast, his mother Jane likes to stay inside with a good book. One day, Bryce and his dad are taking a walk when they discover Slappy. Bryce wants it which dad allows. This pleases Slappy, who can't wait to torture his new victim.
The parents are worried that Bryce is spending so much with Slappy, but they leave him alone. The next morning, Slappy tries to do his evil deed for the day by pouring water into Bryce's backpack. But later he is reminded that it's winter break, so he won't see the results for a while. His step idea is to take Bryce's dog Grover off his leash, but the dog doesn't go anywhere.
His next plan is to put a spider in Mom's drink. When dad sees his own coffee is too weak, he makes a new pot. Mom only gets a bit of her own drink and ends up swallowing the spider without noting it. Desperate, Slappy takes the brakes off Bryce's bike just before he heads out. But when his friend Deshaun arrives, he says he doesn't have his bike yet so they opt out of bike riding. Later, Bryce and his mom make a cake for someone's birthday with Slappy planning to ruin it.
He pushes Bryce into the bowl, which he blames Deshaun for. But when Mom comes in, she finds the mess funny and takes a picture, planning to buy a cake instead. Baffled, Slappy realizes that his time is running out. His next scheme is to put worms in Bryce and Dad's sandwiches as they are about to go fishing. But they forget to bring their food with them.
Slappy snaps and drills a hole in their boat, wanting to step up his game. This fails when Dad announces that someone is picking them up and they aren't using their usual boat. Slappy then tries to push Bryce overboard, but the boat hits a current which causes Slappy to fall off instead. They rescue the dummy, and he goes home waterlogged. Soon it's time for the birthday party as Slappy is left home due to still being wet.
Part Four[]
Slappy doesn't want to give up and decides to just walk to the party. Before he can, Darkwell suddenly appears before him. He confesses to the dummy that the whole thing about having to do evil every day was all a lie. He just wanted to make sure Slappy would obey him so he can get his revenge. Darkwell has since made peace and only wants to do good and bring an end to Slappy's evil. Slappy protests, but Darkwell says the words in reverse, which puts Slappy to sleep.
Epilogue[]
A bit later, Slappy gets up. It's revealed that Slappy had put in some earbuds that Bryce gave him, so he couldn't hear the spell and it didn't work on him. He goes off to terrorize the birthday party.
Audiobook[]
| Audiobook | Release date | Length | Narrated by | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
September 20, 2022 | 2 hours, 51 minutes | Joe Fria and R.L. Stine | Scholastic Inc. |
Pre-release[]
The pre-release cover for Slappy, Beware!
An early version of the cover with the title in a slightly different font and colored in red appeared in the background of an image posted on Stine's Twitter on February 2, 2022.[2]
The title was revealed online on December 18, 2021. On March 16, 2022, the E! website conducted an interview with R.L. Stine that previewed the first chapter for the story, as well as the cover's reveal, which lacked the "special edition" moniker as seen on the final cover.[3] Stine mentioned he originally planned the title to be Slappy's Terrible Horrible Very Bad Day," an obvious homage to the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. He also stated he likes this book as it shows Slappy in a new light.
Scholastic released a trailer in anticipation of the book's release, making it the first Goosebumps book to receive a trailer. It is narrated by Joe Fria as Slappy, who portrays him in the SlappyWorld audiobooks.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- R.L. Stine dedicated this book to Joan Waricha, Susan Lurie and his wife, Jane Stine. This makes it the only Goosebumps book to feature a dedication.
- This is also the only Goosebumps book to feature an introduction by R.L. Stine.
- This is the second book in the Living Dummy saga to be centered around Christmastime and New Year's, with the first being Slappy New Year!.
- Similar to Slappy's Nightmare, Slappy has to do something, or he'll be put to sleep forever, but this time he must commit an evil act instead of doing good deeds.
- This is the second book cover to depict Slappy with red eyes, the first being Slappy in Dreamland's cover.
- The following origins are dismissed: An evil magician carving Slappy from a haunted coffin, Slappy being the ghost of a ten-year-old boy living in his head, and Slappy being an escaped puppet from a puppet factory in Cincinnati (a likely reference to Stine's home state of Ohio). Stine has stated these multiple origins are the result of him not being consistent.[4]
- The book confirms that there are more than one Mr. Wood dummy as there are Mister Wood dummies that can be bought at stores, each looking exactly like the one that Kris Powell owned. Whether the one Kris owned was part of that set remains uncertain.
- One of the plots to the book involves Slappy pretending to be Mister Wood. This is a likely reference to the fact that Slappy appears on the covers for the first Night of the Living Dummy book despite Mr. Wood being that book's actual villain, causing some confusion.
- This book references My Little Pony, Minecraft, YouTube, PlayStation, and Netflix.
- This book does not feature a preview for the next book to be published, Night of the Squawker.
- Slappy proclaims he is a "baaaaad boy" a few times in this book. This is likely a callback to Revenge of the Living Dummy, where Slappy said this due to being called Mr. Bad Boy at first.